Site
Specific Education is a philosophy of education created by Marc Joel Levitt that utilizes
the physical and/or social-cultural environment in your school to create
inquiry, research opportunities and presentation that is authentic, professional
and "real world." Mr. Levitt has taught Site Specific Education
at Rhode Island College and has utilized it in many workshops. Examples
of these include:

1. Charles
Fortes Museum Project. A nationally recognized example
of Site Specific Education where students utilize the neighborhood's and
their 150 year-old former factory buildings history for inquiry, research
and museum quality presentation. Funded largely by the Disney Corporation
and the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Museum Project is featured
in a Disney made/Nationally distributed film about three schools it funded.
Click here for the slideshow with images from
the project.

2. The Lewiston, Maine Audio Project
where in an old mill town, low on jobs and self esteem, Mr. Levitt led
a group of middle school students to create short audio pieces about local
history designed to be played throughout the community.

3. Las Vegas, New Mexico Radio Project
where Mr. Levitt and a group of summer school students created a local
radio show based on the small Northern New Mexico community's music, history
and agricultural and craft traditions.

4.
New York’s PS 11 Mapping Project
where Mr. Levitt had student’s map their Woodside Queens neighborhood
while writing about important events in their lives that took place on
its streets. The result was a complex and multi-layered study of the way
in which neighborhoods are used and a writing lesson that is derived from
everyday life.

5.
Cranston, Rhode Island’s ‘Transition’
Magazine, where students from fifth grade, about to enter
middle school created a magazine about change and transition in general.
The magazine contained stories about divorce, death, graduations, and
fears about entering into a new phase of life.

"Mr.
Levitt has a great ability to understand the needs of a community and
to help students come up with the ways to address those needs while developing
literacy and social skills in an exciting and meaningful way."Richard
Willing, Director Lewiston Auburn Arts